2 Letter Commands

You can dramatically reduce time and increase productivity in your CAD Zone drawing program by using two-letter shortcut commands. Nearly every command associated two-letter command. A command can be invoked by typing these two letters instead of selecting it from a menu. For example to invoke the Select All command, you can type SA rather than selecting it from the pull-down menu or drawing a selection window. Most of the two-letter commands are mnemonic making them easy to remember, such as; ZA - Zoom All or RD - Redraw.

To learn more about 2 letter commands in CAD Zone, and to get a full list of them click here.

Working With Aerial Maps and Satellite Images

The CAD Zone's "Import Satellite Photos" feature lets you bring in aerial maps and satellite images and place them in your drawing. Once placed, you can draw on top of the image, place symbols, and place text on it to show details. Maps can be brought in from either BingTM or GoogleTM Maps so you can pick the one that works best for your drawing.

To learn more on Working with Aerial Maps and Satellite Images click here.

Placing Text on a Sloped Surface in 3D

Do you want to place text so it shows up on a 3D sloped surface? There is no command to align text to a surface, so turn your text into a symbol and align it that way! Click here to learn how this can be done.

Using Cursors

As you use any of CAD Zone's diagramming applications, the shape of the "cursor", or mouse pointer, changes, depending on what you are doing. A particular cursor can help you know what to do next.

Get Free Program Updates With Express Update

The "Express Update" feature provides you with a fast and convenient way to update your CAD Zone programs ti the most current version. You should regularly perform an Express Update to make sure you have the latest improvements and program features.

Setting the File Association for CAD Zone Files

On some computers, the Windows file manager (Windows Explorer), does not automatically recognize that a file with extension .czd should be opened with a CAD Zone drawing application. This can be fixed by manually setting your Windows "file association" for .czd files.

To learn how to manually set your Windows file association for .czd files click here.

Large Prints (Plots)

You can make large, courtroom presentations or template prints, even if you don't have a plotter. Convert your drawing into a scaled PDF file you can take to a print shop such as Kinkos and print it there.

Merging and Aligning Two Drawings Together

If you have drawings that contain two or more common points or a common line, you can use the "Merge" command to put them together into one drawing. For example, if you have created intersection templates for your area, when there is a crash, you can simply map the vehicles and evidence and the common points needed to merge the vehicle drawing into the predawn intersection.

To learn more on merging and aligning two drawings together click here.

Mouse Control - 2D / 3D

To learn how to use the mouse in 2D navigation and 3D navigation click here.

Rotate Objects With Your Mouse

You can use your mouse to quickly rotate any objects that are selected. Use the Angle Draw option (on the upper-toolbar) to rotate objects exactly 45 or 90 degrees.

Save Files for Court

If you work on investigations that could result in a court case, you want to ensure you have all the critical files from Crash Zone, Crime Zone, CZ Point Cloud, or Pocket Zone. Measurements, point clouds, photographs, diagrams, and animations may all be named as discoverable evidence. You may be required to turn your data over to the opposing legal team, so make sure you have saved (and backed up) copies of all the import ant files. For every case, be sure to save all of these files.

To learn how to save these files in Crash Zone and Crime Zone, Pocket Zone, or CZ Point Cloud click here.

Working With Digital Photographs and Image Files

Cad Zone drawing programs are "vector-based" applications, so your drawings are composed of points (X,Y,Z), lines, arcs, and so on. Digital photographs and other images with a .jpg or.bmp file extension are "bitmap" or pixel images that are composed of many small, colored dots. You can import digital photographs and other images into the drawing program and place them into the drawing program and place them into your drawings, but you cannot use the standard CAD Zone editing features to modify a bitmap image. You can draw or trace over any bitmap image and the program has some special bitmap editing features for working images.

To learn more about working with digital photographs and image files click here.

Using the Wall Evidence (WV) Tool

With the Wall Evidence feature you are able to add Symbols, Hatch Patters, Text and Dimension to a wall segment that has 3D height assigned to it. This is very useful for showing evidence on walls or any vertical surface and for creating signs. Here are a few tips on using the Wall Evidence tool to,

Using Fire Flow Formulas in First Look Pro

First Look Pro contains two standard fire flow formulas: the Iowa State formula and the National Fire Academy formula. If you prefer, you can enter your own values in a Fire Flow Calculator. Click here to learn how to use these formulas in your CAD Zone software.